Mini lab-created organs successfully check cancer treatments

Scientists used lab-grown cells from an individual’s cancer tumor to study their response to different drugs, according to a new study published in Science Thursday.

Why it matters: These cells, called organoids, bring us a step toward honing precision medicine for patients with aggressive, metastatic gastrointestinal cancers.

“It could allow clinicians not only to test known anticancer drugs but also other drugs that are not being used in cancer but that could be re-purposed for that particular patient.”

— Meritxell Huch of the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute

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Hans Clevers, group leader at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, who was not part of this study but helped create the organoid technique used in this trial, tells Axios:

“It proves beyond a doubt that cancer organoids can be used to predict drug response in a personalized fashion. We have given some anecdotal evidence earlier, but nothing to the level of this paper.”

What they did during the 3-year trial:

The researchers took 110 fresh tumor biopsies from 71 gastrointestinal patients and used them to create patient-derived organoids.

They compared the organoids with the original tumors to check they were similar.

They investigated the robustness of organoids as a screening platform for drug discoveries, and compared head-to-head the organoid response with the patient’s response in the clinic.

It took roughly 6–8 weeks from biopsy to obtain the drug results.

What they found: The team found 88% positive predictive value (ability to identify responsive drugs) and 100% negative predictive value (ability to identify non-responsive drugs) in forecasting response to targeted agents or chemotherapy in patients.

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